Jeff Sanders

Jeff Sanders has covered local high school sports, the Los Angeles Angels and the San Diego Padres before moving on to local city and education beats. He graduated from Chapman University with an English degree in 2002, and has won several awards in sports writing for a number of papers, including a national Associated Press Sports Editors honor in 2011.

The Cubs on Monday reassigned top prospect Kris Bryant to minor league camp. No surprise there. His world-leading nine home runs aside, this was the only conclusion that team president Theo Epstein was ever going to reach regarding his third baseman of the future. Scott Boras’ ranting never mattered. The Cubs’ preaching that Bryant needed work on his defense never really mattered. The pointed response of the players’ union doesn’t, either. In the end, this ...

PEORIA, Ariz.  A coach at his core, Bud Black rarely lets a teachable moment pass. Such was the case earlier this month when the Padres’ veteran manager pulled one of his top students aside as James Shields and Derek Norris struggled to get on the same page in their third start together this spring. The lesson: textbook. The pupil: Austin Hedges, who even entering his third season as one of baseball’s top catching prospects ...

MESA, Ariz.  Kris Bryant has failed before. Google him exhaustively, and you may come across the summer he spent in the Cape Cod League after his freshman year at the University of San Diego. The numbers, believe it or not, were downright ugly: 37 games, 51 strikeouts, a .223 batting average. As forgettable as it was, that failure was precisely what Mike Bryant wanted his son to remember after he donned a platinum sombrero ...

PEORIA, Ariz.  In reshaping the Padres organization, A.J. Preller’s dizzying offseason showed early on that his agenda would not be bound by allegiances to players drafted under his predecessors’ watch. Maybe the rookie general manager left a few prejudices at the front door, too. At least that’s one way to look at the playing time that Cody Decker is receiving this spring. A year away from minor league free agency, the 28-year-old first baseman ...

SCOTTSDALE, Ariz.  For nearly two weeks, the Padres held right-hander Brandon Maurer out of Cactus League games with a sore back. Whatever rust piled up during the lull had worn off by the time the 24-year-old reliever fired a 97 mph fastball through Ryan Casteel’s swing to end the sixth inning. “It was good to see him out there turning it loose,” Padres manager Bud Black said after the Padres’ 10-3 win over the ...

PEORIA, Ariz.  One mound conference wasn’t enough. Two wasn’t, either, judging by the tape-measure blast that Carlos Gomez yanked off James Shields shortly after talking things over with catcher Derek Norris. Then again, spring training is as much about getting your work in as it is about getting to know new teammates. The Padres’ new $75 million pitcher is making headway in both departments. “We just got confused there a little bit; that’s going ...

PEORIA, Ariz.  Even on cut day, Hunter Renfroe could crack a smile. His time will come eventually. For now, the 23-year-old outfielder will have to settle for leaving a lasting impression in his first big league spring training experience — specifically, the camp buzz about a “B” game home run last weekend landing in the Mariners’ outfield, a good 40 to 50 feet beyond the Padres’ main back field. “That’s what they said,” Renfroe, ...

GOODYEAR, Ariz.  Sooner or later, Padres pitchers will have to get their bats up to speed. A rehabbing pitcher allowed them to dip their toes into those sometimes choppy waters Sunday morning. Right-hander Casey Kelly threw 10 minutes of batting practice to the Padres’ starting pitchers — minus Ian Kennedy, who made his third Cactus League start. Meanwhile, Kelly’s 10-minute session to rotation mates itching to see live pitching was his first of the ...

four innings, no runs, two hits — read “business as usual.” His life right now, though, is anything but. “It’s been a tough week, just traveling back and forth,” Cashner said after sandwiching scoreless spring starts around trips to Houston to visit his ailing mother, Jane. “Any time you cross the line, you try to forget about everything and focus on pitching. It’s definitely one of those things that’s tough to do, but I think ...

TEMPE, Ariz.  Now, the Padres’ catching depth will really be tested. Catcher Tim Federowicz will miss three to six months with a significant meniscal tear in his right knee, which doctors repaired Friday morning in San Diego as five catchers continued to compete for the right to back up All-Star Derek Norris. “It’s a tough break,” Padres manager Bud Black said after the Padres’ 7-3 win over the Angels. “We didn’t know what was ...

The black, weathered notebook in his pocket is Daniel Jacobs’ life. ¶ Literally. ¶ Figuratively. ¶ Really, any way you put it. ¶ His scribblings log calls on his to-do list, the number of times he benched 360 pounds last week and a never-ending parade of obligations. ¶ Online courses. Speaking engagements. Podcasts. Veterans events. Nonprofit work. Jacobs, 29, might have had trouble keeping track of it all even if an IED hadn’t ripped through ...

fending off bullying charges — resigned this week at the Carmel Valley high school. Rebecca Kingsbury, 28, said she reached the decision on her own after watching allegations levied at a San Dieguito Union school board meeting last month drag a lingering dispute into public view. The resignation, Kingsbury said, is not an admission of guilt. “It’s put so much stress on my kids, my girls and on campus that I have to do whatever ...

Jon Daniels refused to trade with A.J. Preller. Refused. No, not these last few months. This yarn dates back to their college days at Cornell, where the two roomed together, exchanged a few elbows in hoops and dared to match wits in a fantasy basketball league. As the story goes, Daniels’ team got off to a strong start one year. Then Preller, the shark that he was, scouted talent stashed on a few bottom-feeding squads, ...

Facing resisting arrest charges in San Diego County, former Padres shortstop Everth Cabrera has reached a plea agreement with prosecutors, clearing the way to complete a new deal with the Baltimore Orioles. In lieu of proceeding with his April trial, Cabrera was sentenced to three years of probation, fined $655 and ordered to complete 80 hours of volunteer work within the year, a San Diego County District Attorney’s Office spokesman said Wednesday. The agreement, according ...

All the way back in November, A.J. Preller opened the offseason with a loss. Two of them, actually. Despite the Padres’ unprecedented push to land a major free agent, Pablo Sandoval turned his nose up at their record-breaking $100 million offer and instead joined a far more established brand on the East Coast. Then, Target No. 2, Yasmany Tomas, signed with a division rival, leaving the Friars faithful making an all-too- familiar lament: Here we ...